Bedford school plan cuts jobs, raises taxes

Mar. 18, 2013

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BEDFORD — The school district would cut 30 jobs and raise the tax rate in the five towns it serves under a 2013-2014 budget proposed by Superintendent Jere Hochman.

The $124 million budget would also cut after-school clubs by half and reduce modified sports.

“School districts are expected to do everything, but we can’t be everything to everybody anymore,” Hochman said. “So we need to draw a circle around our academic programs and find different ways of doing things that may really be up to parents and other agencies to provide.”

The proposed layoffs and program cuts, which will be discussed at the school board’s meeting on Wednesday, are needed to balance a budget driven by increases in salaries and the cost of providing health care and pensions, district officials said.

The perennial question is what voters will decide when the budget comes up for a vote on May 21.

“If you look at the whole budget, most of it goes to the teachers and their health benefits and their pensions,” says Paulette Molinari, a Bedford mother of three with one child at Fox Lane High School. “I’m not for layoffs, but they should be cutting the health benefits and the pensions.”

The preliminary budget represents a 1.25 percent increase in spending over the current budget. It carries an increase in the tax levy that falls within the state’s 2 percent cap.

The proposed layoffs include four librarians and two music teachers from the elementary schools, and six teachers from the high school.

A key part of the discussions will be exploring ways for the community to provide clubs and modified sports that the district can no longer afford, Hochman said. The district has not yet specified which clubs or sports teams might be targeted, but has promised to release more details at the Wednesday meeting.